


louder than the day is long

by simplemelodies



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, He can't talk and I'm gonna, Mute - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplemelodies/pseuds/simplemelodies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time it happens, everything is quiet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	louder than the day is long

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roughnscruff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roughnscruff/gifts).



The first time it happens, there is silence.

Of course, there is always a certain level of quiet when Stiles is unable to speak. But the first time it really hits him, sits like a monster on his chest, he is alone.

It is March, and Stiles is alone. When did that become a normal thing? When did laying about, staring at ceiling tiles and tack holes in plaster become something to be expected? When did thoughts begin to crowd into Stiles' mind and suffocate his sense of security, so the only thing left was to breathe shallow and panic?

Alone.

But it is quiet in his room this time. Scott is away, on a trip with his father. Stiles' own dad is on the job, using skin and bone to build back the blood lost to endless nightmares. The first time Stiles opens his mouth and nothing comes out, only the walls are there to reflect the silence back.

X

So maybe that's not exactly how it went. Maybe he screamed. Tried to pull something from his lips his throat his lungs. Tried to communicate. Texted Scott but found no words being formed with his fingertips.

It was like language escaped him altogether.

X

He wakes up two days later with a scratchy throat and words to fill it. He thinks maybe there's something to this. Maybe it's gone for good, maybe losing this part of himself will be gradual.

Like losing sleep.

X

In April Stiles' words leave him for a week. He tries not to let it show, puts on a smile for prom, makes an effort to learn sign language.

He visits Claudia's grave four days in a row.

X

When he regains his voice a second time, it takes a day to notice he is still signing.

X

He's in Econ during finals week when he becomes officially mute.

Well, okay, not official. But Stiles has read enough medical journals, okay? He knows the progression of fronto-temporal dementia. He knows that being unable to speak is a monumental thing.

That monster that sat on his chest that first day in March now claws at his throat. His tongue sits heavy in his mouth.

X

His dad knows sign, had to learn it when Claudia progressed so far beyond what should have been normal. He uses it now to ask Stiles about updates, to see if there is any trouble brewing lately.

Stiles doesn't say that the only trouble there could be to note is his distinct lack of words.

X

It lasts four months.

He wakes up one day in September and signs 'good morning' to John over a pot of roadhouse blend. In bed later on, before lunch but too late to get a morning nap in, Stiles is laying down and contemplating the pros and cons of sleeping for twenty years. A body rolling through the window jolts him away from the cons list.

"Jesus Christ, Derek, fucking knock or something. There's a front door for a freaking reason."

**Author's Note:**

> Migraine -- Twenty One Pilots
> 
> guardliam on tumblr 


End file.
